NEWS: Pennsylvania’s new budget takes aim at the state’s energy crisis, but some critics say it misses the target.

The Keystone State’s $50B 2026-2027 budget locks in provisions to tame skyrocketing bills and bolster the grid, notes David Hess, former Sec. of PA’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). These include:

A push for advanced transmission tech: Utilities are now required to consider ATTs when building new lines or updating existing ones (and the state PUC can order them to integrate ATTs if it sees fit).

Data center transparency: It also orders data centers >10 MW to report their annual energy and water usage to the state DEP, which will become publicly available.

What’s missing: Rules targeting pollution and energy cost-shifting from data centers, environmental groups note, which were blocked by the state Senate.